Analysis and Modeling of a SiC Based Buck Converter and Its Effects in an Electric Vehicle Application

Power electronic components are found in all areas of an electric vehicle, from power train to motors and from battery to ancillary loads and these converters are manufactured in Silicon (Si). However, there are many other applications where the design requirements on power converters are too stringent to be met using conventional Silicon-based solutions. This includes applications in electric vehicles, defense and aerospace, subterranean exploration, and geothermal energy. For power converters in such applications, SiC offers many advantages over Si. While doing the electrical design of a power converter, the thermal aspects are usually neglected causing a vast difference in the simulation and real-life application. This paper aims to show how taking thermal characteristics into account for a power converter is beneficial and how it influences the results. This is done with two different SiC device models to replicate the results and to demonstrate the conclusiveness of the analysis. First, the electrical design of a buck converter is presented and then the thermal aspects of a design are explained in detail. Finally, both aspects are combined, and detailed simulations are shown in multiple different cases which provide a significant difference in the results validating the hypothesis.